The Pokemon Carnivore Theory
by Stokers of the Fire
Summary: An essay of Pokemon, if they were to live as we did...it's a dangerous world. Deals with the evolution theory; rating to protect the innocent kiddies. Little kids should not read! (Rier!fic)


A/N: Yes, I know this is a children's game. But I wanted to write something interesting for Pokemon that was not done before, and I don't think college- style essays usually make it into this fandom.  
  
Yes, this is serious. NO, don't take it so. Tell me "it's only a kid's game!", and guess what? I know that already! If you disagree, then tell me why. Not just that you do.  
  
Note, also: THIS IS ALL WRITTEN BY RIER. Blaze had nothing whatsoever to do with this beyond being put through the torture of running away from me and reluctantly agreeing to look at it before it got put up. She's quite opposed to the idea, and we argued it for quite some time...which gave me ideas, but shhh! Don't tell her that. *wink* Kidding, of course.  
  
To readers: This is NOT a hate-fic. I enjoy Pokemon intensely, and I revile most of the bad hate-fics out there. I just decided to be perverse and write a fic contrary to most expectations. Reviews, flames, etc. are welcome. The idea is copyright me, Pokemon are not mine.  
  
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The Pokemon Carnivore Theory  
  
In the popular children's game 'Pokemon', there are several things that must be noticed. There are no animals. Naturally, of course, the Pokemon are the animals. As animals, their main objective is to catch food. This in turn leads to various problems. The delicate balance of the food web transcends our world into the world of our games, and thus the conclusion must be reached that some Pokemon are carnivores, some are scavengers, some are herbivores, and all are utilized by humanity. Pokemon live in harsh world, very similar to ours.  
  
Pokemon start out in nature, as all wild, eventually domesticated, animals do. To survive in the wild, it would make perfect sense that they use any method available to get food. The obvious result would be the development of the different tropic levels of carnivore, herbivore, and scavenger. The herbivore cannot survive alone because of the simple reason that not all Pokemon can feed themselves off of berries without running into a severe shortage of plants. The existence of the carnivore comes into play when the Pokemon herbivores start to overrun the Earth and destroy all plant life. The carnivores limit the number of herbivores and feed themselves at the same time.  
  
Pokemon in the wild would have developed attributes to help them in the never-ending hunt for food. What is the purpose of the 'Bite' attack, or the sharp, obviously carnivorous teeth that some Pokemon display if not to be used for the collection of food? In the end, everything comes down to survival. Each Pokemon in the game is caught and treasured for it's own fighting attacks and defenses. These attacks and defenses can be related to the developments of traits that assist predators and assist prey in the real world. Each animal or Pokemon is both predator and prey, although some obviously prey on only plant life.  
  
For example, look at the flying-type Pokemon. They developed wings to help them avoid the predators on the ground and sharp beaks to help in their search for food. The attack 'Fly' takes advantage of the wings, for one, and the defense move 'Sand Attack' can block a predator's view long enough for the Pokemon to escape. If they did not need such attacks to fight against predators, why would they develop? Plants do not run or fly away. Traits such as wings for fly, claws for digging, and others would not evolve otherwise.  
  
There are several attacks that cannot be explained by natural selection. Leer, Flash and Metronome are two such. Flash lights up caverns for humans to see, Leer is a glare from one Pokemon to another, which results in lowered defense, and Metronome randomly chooses a move from many to perform. Metronome is a development of some peaceful mountainous Pokemon, such as Clefairy, the most obvious user of the move. However, moves like this can be explained in the same way ultra-large vegetables are explained in our world. Artificial selection, or human interference, is the cause. TMs and HMs, which teach Pokemon attacks, are another sign to point to human interference.  
  
When a Pokemon knocks out a wild Pokemon, they are in effect killing it. The players of the game sometimes refer it to as killing, usually in slang, but it is generally accepted that it is only knocking out. But if one works with the carnivore theory, then a knocked out Pokemon would be fresh meat for another hungry Pokemon. This leads to the development of scavengers. Scavengers would be Pokemon that use trainers and predatory Pokemon to kill or knock out Pokemon that eventually serve as the food of the scavengers. These Pokemon would have fewer developments geared towards actually fighting and hunting other Pokemon and more towards speed, sneakiness, and other attributes that allow them to sneak in after the Pokemon has been knocked out and take the meat then. This leads to the different levels of Speed, Accuracy, etc. that each Pokemon has, allowing these few differences to determine what they can or cannot catch. Thus the diet is determined.  
  
In the series and game, Pokemon are described as sentient creatures with personalities. This is true, but with all the mishaps and injuries, no Pokemon on the series ever seems to stop and consider what they're doing. This is because, while Pokemon are more personable than the regular, run-of- the-mill dog or cat, they are still probably a sub-sentient kingdom of animals. They are probably eternally at the intelligence level of a small child. They would not understand that feeding on meat kills another Pokemon unless the Pokemon is very dear to them. To eat is to eat, and when almost anything alive is hungry, they will do almost anything to assuage that hunger, especially if they do not realize the consequences. These are only the domesticated Pokemon. Wild Pokemon would probably have accepted the fact of life that they are meat eaters and thus hunt meat in the form of other Pokemon. This also results in the viciousness shown in several types of wild Pokemon seen in the series: Pokemon that, in the hands of a trainer, have the ability to be far gentler.  
  
Pokemon have natural enemies and thus require some sort of protection. One need only look at the divisions of Pokemon. Element verses element, some types of Pokemon are strong against one sort and weak against another. Water is weak to Grass, Grass is weak to Fire, Fire is weak to Water. It forms a perfect circle of strengths and weaknesses, adding and subtracting the weaknesses added in by the development of mixes between the elements. If Pokemon were the Kingdom, types would be the Phylums, the first division of Pokemon. It is the basic unit of classification for Pokemon, and any player of the game could tell you instantly what element a Pokemon is. Smaller groups such as Poison and Ghost are sub-phylum of the elements they belong to. In the case of Bug or Poison, they would be sub-phylum of Grass, in the case of Ghost Pokemon, it is the sub-phylum of Psychic.  
  
All Pokemon would be used by humans. It's a simple, undeniable fact. The entire point of the series is how trainers go out and catch Pokemon and then use them to fight battles and get even more Pokemon and eventually, defeat other trainers in a mad rush to become the greatest trainer in the world. However, look at the other aspects of this. With the strength of, for example, the Tauros available, it would be a lot easier to farm and grow food humans need. But let us not stop there. The milk from some types of Pokemon is prized, as is shown from both the series and the game. And the very description of Farfetch'd reads that it was nearly hunted to extinction for food. And most humans enjoy meat. Since in the series or the game there are no animals, the natural source of this meat would be Pokemon. Also, clothing. Several Pokemon trainers have been seen wearing things such as leather, which is made from animal skin, or in this case, Pokemon skin. Why else would you find herds of domesticated Pokemon? Not for catching and raising, which requires intense time and caring, but for the same purpose that we humans here raise cattle and pigs. Note, also, that some species of Pokemon have become so rare that they are in danger of becoming extinct, thus creating the need for a Pokemon Preserve. How did they become extinct? Not because one to many Trainers caught them, because they were unable to fend off either Trainers, other Pokemon, or poachers. The word 'poachers' is used to refer to people trying to illegally catch Pokemon, but it can also be used for those who want to make some money off of Pokemon by selling the parts. Note that human superstition extends to carrying around rabbit feet, why not a Pikachu foot for good luck?  
  
In conclusion, Pokemon do not live in the kind, simple world. It is simply illogical. Pokemon can be classified into the different tropic levels, which include carnivores, herbivores, omnivores, and scavengers. Omnivores, being a mix of carnivore and herbivore, do not really deserve their own section of discussion, as the rules that govern carnivores and herbivores apply to them as well. The existence of Pokemon exists on the same level as the animals that they represent in the real world. Humans also come into the equation when they breed or invent new traits to add to Pokemon, as in the creation of Mewtwo and various TMs and HMs. Also, humans eat and use Pokemon for purposes such as training, breeding for selling and food, and farming and other manual labor. Pokemon live in a harsh world like ours, and react by evolving so they adapt to the world.  
  
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Reviews are always welcome. 


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